south florida

Update 9, Bin 1. Could have wrote this and made the video days ago but got sidetracked on the Project: Closed Caption Words matter, in a world of silence. marathon. Then I also somehow had in mind I needed to wait until I documented the progress of the last additions to bins 2 & 3. Not sure why, I didn’t plan on getting back into the bin until the next round of waste is ready to add.

There hasn’t been as much waste material over the last few weeks so it took a little longer between feedings. I’d rather not disturb them and let things progress with as little interference as possible. It seems like things work much better that way. This bin has had a few disturbances with the roaches. That left me digging around in there when I otherwise would not have been.

July 20, 2018 Condition of bin after waste added.

It does look like the roach rodeo roundup was successful. Didn’t see anything in there. The white dot bugs are abundant and active. The earwig looking things have been slow to populate. I wonder if the roly polys have anything to do with it? The roly polys population is growing really fast.

August 9, 2018 Untouched since July 20th.

I was worried about them in a confined area and over population. Have an idea to try and get some out and add to my yard compost and other areas where leaf litter builds up. More on that in the next blog/video since I don’t have the details worked out yet.

August 9, 2018 After checking for roaches waste was added.

The mangos don’t want to quit. I thought I had killed them off last time but as the evidence shows, it didn’t work. This time I broke the sprout to see how it works. The bin had no odors and it appeared that all the waste added last time was completely gone. Except for the potato skins which, over time I’ve noticed takes some time to decompose.

The worms were hard to find at the surface, had to dig a little to make sure of their health. That’s usually how it is when all the waste at the top has been consumed. They looked like they’re doing well. My next visit will be to remove some of the roly polys and take them to other useful places. Now that it looks like the roaches are gone the bin can be left to progress without chaos. The issue will be finding enough waste to keep the eating machine running. -13

Bins 2 & 3, Update 10, 20 July It dawned on me editing the video that this is a good subject for school kids and I like cussing, so I’ll cuss as much as usual. Or, add a few extra to keep your on your toes, the only difference is I’ll bleep it out. I won’t use the normal bleep sound. There are all kinds of interesting and fun sound effects that are a much better substitute. I’d rather be me, do the bleeps and still have something that may have educational value that a family could watch together.

Since that’s why I started all this to begin with. Documenting examples of things I did not see on video/photo. There are always lots of words often with no photographs or video. I’ve thrown several food waste items in my bins I’m not sure how many times over the last two years successfully. Then read online at various websites how this or that is a never, no-no, ever! kind of thing. The worms in these bins have a different opinion on what they find acceptable.

Following no dogma, I like to see for myself, the who, what, when and where. Then share what is discovered with video/photographic examples. Much is edited out of my videos for brevity. I don’t want to waste time with unnecessary footage that doesn’t add anything or document an actual event. Update 10 video for bins 2 & 3 has more footage than usual because extraordinary events did happen. It will show more detail how the bins are maintained and recorded.

Bin 2 starts with a little excitement when I discover a gecko in the bin. Didn’t notice it when the cardboard was moved all the spiders were distracting me. While I was trying to figure out where and what to do the with more than 20 spiders I spotted a gecko in the bin.

20 July Spiders do well in bin 2

Once you see them you have to move fast or loose your chance to catch them. When this happens I’m usually able to catch it and let it go outside. This time all the chaos and my unsuccessful attempt at capture and release was recorded. Maybe next time. Hope I get it before the cats do.

20 July Bin 2 Gecko

As can be seen in the photos in this blog and in the video, the worms and other insects have picked everything clean. It’s amazing to see. The mangos want to grow don’t they? It looks like a nursery for mangos seedlings.

20 July Bin 2 Mangos reaching for the sun

There was no noticeable odor or roaches. Overall it looks good inside bin two. The addition of more worms has clearly worked.

20 July Bin 2 Picked clean mango seeds

Bin 3 Not much to note about this bin. No odor, no roaches or chaos. A single mango seedling trying like all the others.

20 July Bin 3

There must be a lot of worms in bin 3 because they clean the waste in there like a boss. Look at the photo below or better, the video. What an amazing transformation.

July 7 Bin 3

20 July Bin 3

The video has as much as the fun and excitement as the camera could capture. Would liked to have caught the lizard and moved it off the porch to think if the cats get it leaves me unsettled. But that is life in or on any porch in Florida, a deathtrap for lizards when there is no food source or in many cases, they’re on the menu. Seems like I have a few regular viewers and readers of the blog. That’s a surprise. Hope you find something useful here while you visit. -13

Update 8, Bin 1, 10th July. Need to remove the dead grass out of a planter and recycle it into the bin. Everything set up to film, before recording began I removed the lid to make sure everything was in frame when the pursuit began. Caught a roach off guard. After tearing through all the cardboard caught the only roach in sight and ended it there. Searched the bin several times and saw nothing.

10 July After Roach Rodeo Chaos

The video starts soon after the roach rodeo ended. Not very good footage of the transfer. Doing any task while watching it though the camera is not as easy as one might think. No offensive odors to note. Did not add any waste there was plenty from last time.

10 July After photo. Patch of grass added.

20th July Time to check bin conditions. Set up to film, hit record before I started this time. Roach rodeo part two begins as the cardboard is removed. It nearly escaped me it moved so fast. All the gory details caught on video. There was another roach in the cardboard that was taken out of the bin and set aside. Caught that roach and it is on its way to somewhere.

20 July More Roach Rodeo Chaos Aftermath

The overall condition of the bin looks like its progressing well. There are worms dispersed throughout the waste. The roly-polys are thriving the evidence is visible in the bin. There are maybe 50 or more. It’s hard to tell for sure. Plenty of white dot bugs wish I could see them under magnification. No foul odors.

An observation on onions in all of my bins over time. An onion, no not just the onion, most of the root/underground grown plants take much longer to decompose in the bin. The thing to note about the onion is while it looks like not much is happening from a top view, when turned over the bottom will be full of small earth worms. Not sure if I have footage yet in any of the videos. It appears that the younger worms are attracted to them.

Those mangos like theses bins.

To wrap it up, added a small amount of mangos and greens. Covered it with cardboard as usual. Didn’t add water this time the humidity level looked good. There isn’t much soil at this point so moisture levels have to be maintained and monitored. I’ve seen the top layer dry before. It helps to keep the cardboard close to the surface of the waste yet still have air flow.

Filmed a short video inside the bin. Not much to see. Close up view of how I like to see this bin with all the activity. Next time we’ll see if there’ll be another uninvited Roach Rodeo in town. For now everything looks good in the bin.

The title of the video was another topic I wanted to cover. I had come up with two. First was “Invaders caught, 3 Dead, Search continues” all of it true and clickbait as it gets. Sounds like and inspired by local headlines. The other choice was “Roach Rodeo Comes To Town”. That one is fun but not as headline dramatic as the first one. The next Worm bin notes will be more challenging and fun to title. Another reason why this is called the Vermicompost Experiment. -13

All Good In The Wood by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. For more check out the artist at: http://audionautix.com/

Note: 23 July 2018, as an experiment I changed the title of the video and blog to “Worm bin notes: Roach Rodeo Arrives, Chaos Ensues”. Lets see what happens. -13

1JUL2018- Bin 2 & 3, moving worms from bin 3 over to 2. There is a noticeable difference in consumption between the bins. Both bins have an odor from the mangos. The smell is only noticeable when removing the cardboard layer and expected at this point in the process. Surprising how there is no smell only feet away.

Bin 3 1JUL2018

Bin 2 1JUL2018

There was a buildup of moisture on the lid and cardboard in 3. Looked like it was about to rain. The amount of worms were not as visible as I thought they might be so I only scooped up a few handfuls to move over to bin 2. See how this affects the bins before moving more. They’re usually more concentrated making it easier to move with less casting loss from the donor bin.

This time the food was evenly distributed and it seems so were the worms. In the past they did not receive as much as once so they gathered in more concentrated groups. Easy pickings when it’s time to move them. They’re in bin 2 now so lets see what happens next.

8JUL2018- Bins 2 & 3, clearly the addition of worms from bin 3 over to 2 made a big difference. The before and after shown in the video is amazing to see and demonstrates why it was a necessity. When opening the bins there was no foul odors and it looks like I’m keeping the roaches out.

Forgot for refill my water sprayer before I started so none of the bins were sprayed this time. I’ll give them a spray Monday or Tuesday they won’t need much. Bin 2 didn’t look like I’d added anything except that all the excess was leveled. Bin 3 had the low spots created when removing worms on JUL1 that will slowly even back out. By the next time they’ll be close to unnoticeable. It is another interesting thing to see happen in these bins.

Wasn’t much to do but add more waste and let both bins equalize with all the changes. I have to get better at taking stills for all the reasons I use them. When I don’t it bites me in the ass every time, that and the autofocus. Check out the video below for some good close ups of the worm transfer. -13

Update 7, Bin 1, One meal at a time and lots of poop is how it will be built. Watching this process is fascinating. Waste in, waste out, soil. No foul odors or unwanted insects. Looks like the population is growing. There were plenty of the roly-polys and a few worms visible. Didn’t want to disturb much so they will settle in. When they’re hard to see like that they are usually directly under a food source. Rather leave them be so they can flourish.

I’ll wait another few weeks or so before digging around in there to see how the worms are doing. Next time I film these bins I’ll try some different views for a closer look inside the bins. Check out the state of bin 1 in the video below.

Update 6, bin 1. This update starts with a seedling mango tree trying to compete for food with the worms getting put in its place. Then, not much. No foul odors or unwanted insects. All left undisturbed so they can settle in and start building without interruption.

Added new waste to shallow end to see how long it takes to build up to the other higher level. This is my favorite bin at this point due to the nature of the experiment. Unknown worms and other insects from an unknown source plus the roly-poly stray adoption along the way. From the smallest worm find until now it keeps getting more interesting as they increase in size and population. -13

Update 7 for bins 2 & 3. Bin 2 is looking good. No foul odors. Looks like there is a notable amount of waste left in here than in bin 3. This is indicating I need to move more worms from bin 3 over. The difference is clear to see. Moisture level seems good. I’ll need to add more cardboard soon. Better add some sand next feed time.

Bin 3 is working like a well oiled machine. It’s unimaginable how much they can change the landscape inside the bin. Somehow they move half a mango to make it look like it’s sinking into the soil. Totally amazed by that. Seems like there are more of the white dot and skinny bugs in bin 2 than in this bin. Maybe they’re subsoil when the waste gets that low. I can see them move in and out of the soil when I watch them. Mostly I see them on top. No foul odors.

Last post I mentioned roaches. Thought it was going to be a big hassle to find it. Wow was I wrong. As I was moving the cardboard out of the bin the roach ended up in my hand. At first I didn’t know it was there because it was in the gloved hand. I then noticed something kind of squishy. Thinking it was a small pile of worm bunched up I quickly looked where my fingers sensing the difference.

It was the roach, or a new one. I was in disbelieve it was that easy. Couldn’t have planned that in a million years. Once I realized my luck I threw it on the floor and killed it. The cats sitting there supervising me. Hope that was all of them. -13

Update 5, bin 1. Amazing progress. There are worms everywhere in that bin. I thought they would be concentrated in the thicker soil under all the food waste I’ve been feeding. What a surprise to find then in numbers under the decaying grass introduced last week. They all look healthy. The roly poly are also doing well I could see many smaller ones running around in there indicating reproduction. They might overrun the bin. If they do I let them loose on my yard compost pile. It is an experiment.

When I lifted part of a mango I found another unidentified insect alongside the worms. Was able to get a close up on video. It looked like something I’ve seen when pulling bark off a rotting tree. Maybe I’ll be able to figure out what it is. Guessing it was in the soil that the worms were in when I introduced them to the bin.

Can’t remember if I was going to start putting waste on the thinner soil side this soon. After seeing the number of worms under the grass I will. Start building it up. Couldn’t be more fascinated by this bin and it’s progression. The distribution and number of worms, rapidly reproducing roly polys and a new species. Added strawberries, sprayed a good rain to keep the moisture up seemed a little dry in there. The hard part at this point is knowing how much waste to put in without creating a stinking mess. Don’t want to over do it. -13

Merge – Exit Madness is back for number 4 of south Florida crazy driving. A compilation of dangerous, stupid, selfish things drivers do merging and exiting I-95, I-75, the Florida Turnpike and other highways. Get ready for CRAZY!

Update 6 for bins 2 & 3. Bin 2 is progressing along nicely. The worms from bin 3 seem to help keep the balance so I can put an equal amount of waste in. It appears healthy and moist. I may add more worms from 3 later but am still watching the consumption rate.

Bin 3, doesn’t seem to have any noticeable difference in the consumption rate since I moved the worms. The soil is moist. There’s an abundance of the smaller insects that usually inhabit the bins. Everything seems to be fine.

I did notice a roach on the cardboard when I was editing the video and have yet to locate it. Here I go again with the roaches. I haven’t introduced anything questionable to the bin lately so there hasn’t been much to note. I’ll keep taking before/after stills and video to track the consumption rates, and when I introduce a questionable item that I haven’t filmed before. Time to hunt for roaches. -13

Fisher Island Ferry. It’s not exactly what I’d like it to be. Was hoping to get a front row seat but haven’t over the last several years. In this video we get a good view anyway. I’ve been surprised how difficult it is to get in front. It’s all about timing. There has been other footage but the water was so rough that when the playback speed was increased it made it impossible to watch.

In this video we get smooth water and a decent view. On the return trip there is I think a Netherlands flagged wood mast ship. I couldn’t figure out which ship is was and am hoping someone will be able to identify it and share it with us. Until we have better footage this will be it for the ferry. -13